Site Navigation

Site Mobile Navigation

Hearing on Detroit Mayor Begins

Members of the media watched as Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm of Michigan opened a hearing on Wednesday that could lead to the ouster of Kwame M. Kilpatrick as mayor of Detroit.Credit
Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

DETROIT — After months of legal challenges meant to stop her, Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm of Michigan opened an unusual hearing on Wednesday to determine whether she should remove Mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick of Detroit from office for misconduct.

Though his fate hangs on her decision, Mr. Kilpatrick did not show up to defend himself, instead, his spokesman said, going to work at City Hall as usual. But Mr. Kilpatrick’s absence suggested that he might be redoubling an effort behind the scenes to broker a plea deal with prosecutors, a resolution that could render Ms. Granholm’s proceedings moot, as any deal is likely to involve his resignation.

Late in the day an assistant to the Wayne County prosecutor, Kym L. Worthy, sent out an e-mail message to members of the news media and others with the subject line: “Defendant Kilpatrick to Plead Guilty.” The plea was to come within minutes, the message said. A frenzy swept through the spectators at the hearing, which was expected to last several days.

But within minutes, another e-mail message went out, correcting the first one: There would be no plea. It stated that Mr. Kilpatrick would be in court on Thursday morning for a previously scheduled hearing.

“There is no confirmation of anything yet,” a spokesman for Mr. Kilpatrick’s legal team, Marcus Reese, said Wednesday night. “Because of the mistakes today, we feel we need to get some facts together.” Mr. Reese said plea negotiations were continuing.

The back-and-forth added to the feeling among some of Mr. Kilpatrick’s supporters here that officials at various levels were trying to outdo one another in hastening his ouster.

“It’s unbelievable,” said Adolph Mongo, a political consultant and friend of Mr. Kilpatrick. “How many agencies does it take to prosecute one mayor?”

Even without the late-day surprise, Detroit was already consumed with the legal drama.

The awkward spectacle of a Democratic governor possibly removing the Democratic mayor of the state’s largest city was impossible to ignore, as Ms. Granholm’s hearing was broadcast live on television, leading to a protest and a counterprotest, and generally distracting everyone from their work.

“The mayor’s saga is coming to a head and most folks are aware that his time as mayor is limited,” said a Detroit historian, Michael Smith, director of the Walter P. Reuther Library at Wayne State University. “All I know is that the mayor has only one bargaining chip left: He is mayor. He would lose that if the governor ousted him.”

The Detroit City Council, which has no authority to remove Mr. Kilpatrick from office, asked Ms. Granholm to take up the matter in May after having urged the mayor to resign.

Even as the hearing began, Mr. Kilpatrick’s defense team was filing an emergency appeal to the Michigan Supreme Court to stop it. James Thomas, a lawyer for Mr. Kilpatrick, argued that the governor was not an unbiased judge in this matter and that the standard for determining guilt was too vague.

“The burden of proof is to be sufficient evidence satisfactory to the governor,” Ms. Granholm said at the outset. “I cannot order punishment, such as jail or restitution or fines or fees. This issue is solely about removal from office.”

The governor’s intervention fanned the flames of racial tension here. And things were already tense, as a certain segment of black Detroiters see a hero in Mr. Kilpatrick, 38, a black man who has brought some positive change in terms of new business and housing.

It also complicates Democratic party unity in a swing state that is in play in the presidential election.

“I’m sure the governor was wishing it wouldn’t come to this, because it puts her in an awkward position,” said John R. Chamberlin, a professor at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan. “But as much as it complicates politics for her and the Democratic Party, it was time for this.”

In the hearing, Ms. Granholm was attentive and unemotional. She kept the tone civil when it threatened to become heated.

The City Council has stated in legal papers that it believes Mr. Kilpatrick deceived members when he persuaded them to settle a police whistle-blower lawsuit last year for $8.4 million primarily to hide evidence of an affair with his chief of staff.

In an opening statement, William Goodman, a lawyer for the Council, said the case “was settled to cover up the truth.”

“These are not minor transgressions, Gov. Granholm,” Mr. Goodman said. “They have brought the city of Detroit to a grinding halt.”

Sharon McPhail, a lawyer for Mr. Kilpatrick, called that contention ridiculous. “Such a position is too stupid to be plausible,” she said in her opening statement.